Loading and unloading brick



Nova 9 1926. 1,606,458

W. W. WALLACE LOADING AND UNLOADING BRICK Filed August 26 L925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 jig .44

W. W. WALLACE LOADING AND UNLOADING BRICK Nov. 9 1926.

Filed August 26 192.5 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 izlvewt aW #w iii Patented Nov. 53, 19263 tartar entice.

WILLIAM W. "WALLACE, OF CHlGAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO NEW YORK BRICK IIAYlDL-ENG CORPORATIQN, 91* NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEVT YORK,

LOADING AND TJ'NLOADING BRICK.

Application filed August 26, 1925.

My present invention relates to an improved method of, and apparatus for, loading and unloading, and more particularly to an improved method of, and apparatus for, loading brick from a kiln into flat or box cars and unloading same from said flat or box cars into trucks.

At the present time brick, whether such brick are mechanically or manually manufactured, are taken from the kiln and loaded into boX cars, gondola, or flat cars by hand; that is, utilizing hand labor to load wheelbarrows, Wheel the same into a car and stack or hack the brick into the cars. Obviously such methods of handling are expensive, and particularly so today when the cost of labor is so high. Again, such methods are extremely slow and the breakage of bricks is extremely high due to the rough handling they receive by the workmen. It has been found that there is very little saving in loading brick into box cars direct from the kiln. It should be understood that, as arranged in the kiln, each upper course of brick runs at right angles to the next lower course of brick and, in order to get a full box car load, it is necessary to hack the brick in the car in solid formation. This method of backing is essential for two reasons. First, to get a full car load without having the units too high, which makes it very unhandy when it comes to taking them out of the car and loading into a truck by hand, and second, the brick are loaded from the car onto the truck by hand labor, the workmen using a clamp. With this clamp, they grip 1O brick at a time and carry them into the truck. If they use their hands instead of a clamp, they could only handle 7 brick at a time. In order to utilize the workmen economically, the brick must be stacked in solid formation in just the position to grip 1O brick at a time with the clamp. When loading open or gondola cars in the past, the brick have been stacked in the cars by hand in the same manner as in loading box cars, but the brick are much harder to get out as it is necessary, in this instance, to pass the brick over the sides of the car, and in order to get the car loaded, the bricks are stacked ten to eleven high, making the sides of the car 40-45 high. if it were attempted to loadunits of brick into a car having permanentsides,'the units of brick being in the formation known as'kiln setting-it would be impossible to get a full Serial No. 52,587.

car load in weight as the longest unit that can be handled in a truck is the length of 10 brick or approximately 85". If a string of units were put into a car which is from 100402 wide in the clear, there would be a space on either side of 7 or approximately all on one side and the unit to be picked up again with a fork must be supported on all sides to keep it in formation. By loading in this way, it would be necessary to block the units with lumber the full length of the car and when they ct to the end, to leave one unit out of tie car in order that the lifting fork may be backed out.

lVith a view to expediting the handling of brick from the place of manufacture to the place where the same are to be used in building or other operations; todispense with the use of hand labor wherever and whenever possible; and to avoid-the excessive breakage that occurs with handlabor,

l have devised the subject matter of the present invention. Briefly stated, my in1- proved method consists in removing the bricks from the kiln in unit sized stacks or piles, transporting the unit sized stack or pile mechanically to, preferably, a flat car or gondola car, such car being provided with a plurality of parallelly arranged grooves on its floor into which may fit the tines of the lifting fork, depositing the unit stack or pile in position on the car, and repeating this operation until the car is completely filled. The loaded car is then trans ported to the point of delivery where a mechanically operated lifting fork is again utilized to practically reverse the operation of loading the car, as above described, and depositing the unit stack or piles in a truck or other vehicle, the platform of such truck or vehicle being provided with parallelly arranged grooves similar to those provided for the flat or gondola car above referred to. From the truck, the brick are'carried to the place where they are to be used and dumped in the usual manner. In practicing my improved method, cars into which the brick are to be loaded must be provided with spaced grooves or risers on the floor thereof, but in yards where the brick are handled directly from thekiln into trucks, such risers are being utilized at the present time My invention also'contempl'ates the utilization'of special forms of doors or -oar showing one form of an swinging sides for gondola cars and special forms of pivoted posts or uprights for flat cars, and also contemplates the utilization of special means for carrying the unit stacks from the kiln proper to the lifting fork operated by a gantry crane and located, if desirable, in a lean-to from the main kiln shed.

The principal object of my invention, therefore, is an improved method of an apparatus for loading and unloading brick.

Another object of my invention is an improved method of loading and unloading brick from a kiln into cars in unit formation by mechanical means.

A further object of my invention is an improved method of loading trucks or other vehicles with brick taken in units from a car. 7

A still further object of my invention is an improved method of loading and unloading brick mechanically from a kiln into a car and from a car into a truck.

A still further object of my invention is the improved method of transporting brick from a kiln in unit formation to a point without the kiln and in position to have the unit stack further operated on by a lifting fork.

Another object of my invention is an improved car of the gondola type adapted for receivin unit stacks of brick.

Another object of my invention is an improved form of pivoted or swinging side or end for a car of the gondola type.

A still further object of my invention is an improved form of fiat car.

Other objects and novel features of the construction and arrangements of parts will appear as the description of the invention progresses.

In the accompanying drawings illustrat ing preferred embodiments of my invention,

Fig. 1 is an elevation;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a gondola improved swinging side, and

Fig. 3 is an end elevation showing another form of the improved swinging side and means for operating the same.

' The brick, as they are placed in the kiln, are arranged in unit formation as indicated by the numeral 10, and where the kiln shed is sufiicientl large to have tracks 11 located therein, and on which may run cars of the gondola type, as indicated at 12, such cars may have the unit stacks of brick 1Q placed therein by means-of a lifting fork 13 operated from a gantry crane 141 mounted on rails 15 at the sides of the kiln; i

In .order to obtain are" most economical le i s' wi my ia pre e ma te I take st fi a dfl'ate 320 6191 eel let a? iers" was a 1." d de 19. .s e the es were P s: t vitlee into two equal spaces, each spaca'is made neoaese the length of three units 10. 1f divided into three equal spaces, each space is made the length of two units 10. The unit is usually nine or ten brick long or, measured in inches, from 76%85. The reason for dividing the car floor up into spaces is to reduce the length and weight of the doors 16 or the sides of a fiat car. The car is dividedby uprights 17 built up of steel plates with space enough between such plates to permit the door hangers to be hinged between them and from them. The car floor is provided with parallelly arranged strips or risers 18 running crosswise of the car, as shown in Fig, 2, so that three units 10'may be loaded in the width of a car. Each unit 10 in width is four brick long or 3d, and with a car 102 wide, three units 34;" wide will fit into the car and yet allow the door 16 or sides, if a flat oar,

to be mo e te p ce In loading the car, it is first advisable to set the first three units up against the partition 17 and the next unit or units tight up against the first units 10 that are in position, thus allowing a 3 or 4 space for unloading the last units. This will allow a space between the last units and the end 19 of the car into which may be dropped a false end 20 and wedge 21. leferring to Fig. 1, there is shown in end elevation a car 12 of the gondola type in which the door 16 has been moved into such a position as to allow the fork 18 to either load or unload the compartment referred to with units 10. hen the car is brought into the kiln or into position to be loaded by the fork 13, the fork 13 may be utilized to swing the door 16 from its normal position and into the position at the upper right hand end of the car 12, as shown.

The car 12, having been assumed to have been loaded in the manner described, is sent to its destination, and to work the present method to its highest efiiciency, there will be located at the destination point-which would be as near as possible to the point where the brick are being useda gantry crane l4. and fork 13 similar to that above described as being located at the kiln at the unloading point, the crane would be used to lift up the'door 16 and swing it into the position shown in Fig. 1, thus giving free access for the fork 13 to enterbetween the risers 18 and underthe units 10. At this unloading point may be utilized trucks 22, the floor of the body 23 of which is provided with parallelly arranged risers 2% similar e '18 in the car 12, but in this-ing lengthwise of such body 18, teed t at therea a d i -ti .Wsbleeais ease in yn The un 10, b 'es'l f diij position in-the truc body 23, the parallelly arranged risers 2% allowing the load to be deposited in the truck and removed from under the unit 10 and was withdrawn from the truck. After the. body 23 has been filled with brick, the end of such body is replaced and the truck driven to the point of delivery where it is dumped from the truck by means of the hoist 25, this being also the usual construction.

There will be times that cars of brick loaded according to my improved method will be shipped to isolated sidings where it will require hand unloading, and there being no crane at such point, to lift up the doors, there is provided a mechanism consisting of a frame-work of channels 2-6 spaced apart from each other, and between such channels and at the top thereof is located a sheave 27 while at the bottom and between such channels is located a second sheave 28. On the door 16 of the car on either side is located an eye bolt 29 and in vertical alignment therewithand on the longitudinal stringers of the car 12 is located an eye 30. The channels 26 are placed in the position shown in Fig. 3 and such channels are perforated to receive. pins 31 which pass through the eyes 29 and 30 and thus hold the channels 26 in position againstthe side of the car. Pivotally secured to the upper end of the channels 26 is a yoke 82 to which is secured a pulley 83. A second pulley 34 spaced from the pulley 33 is provided with a hook 35 which engages with the rope or other element 36 secured to the upper end of the door 16. Over the pulleys 33 and 84 runs a rope 37, this rope then extending over the sheave 27 and under the sheave 2S and then under the car 12, as shown. The truck in which the load of brick is to be placed is backed up to the car 12 and the rope 36 attached to any convenient portion of such truck. 1t will be obvious now that, by moving the truck forward, the side or door 16 of the car will be moved from the full line position shown in Fig. and into the dotted line position shown, thus exposing the entire side of the car or of a compartment thereof and allowing the ready removal of the brick contained therein. This means for exposing the side of a car of the flat or gondola type enables a method of unloading to be practiced that i. better than any method that has yet been devised for this purpose.

l i' here the kiln shed is of such dimensions that the kiln, when built up, occupies practically the entire width thereof and it is therefore impossible to place within the kiln shed a set of tracks 11 such as is described above, I prefer to add to one side of the shed a lean-to which shall be wide enough to have placed therein a set of tracks 11 and also a loading platform or platforms running parallel to the tracks and located preferably between said tracks and the side of the kiln shed. In this construction I provide a crane running longitudinally of the lean-to on ways secured to the outer side of the kiln shed and the inner face of the op posite side of the lean-to. At any convenient point or points within the kiln and lean-to I parallelly arrange pairs of tracks or runways, preferably on an incline extending from the interior of the kiln shed downward and out to the lean-to. On the tracks or runways are placed unit cars and the unit cars are connected together by a cable passing over an idler pulley secured at any convenient point between the parallel pairs of tracks or runways. The cable connecting the cars is of sufficient length so that, when one car is on the loading platform, the other car will be well within the interior of the kiln shed and in such a position that it may be easily loaded with units of brick by means of the usual crane located within the kiln shed. The car within the kiln shed having been loaded with the unitwof brick, the weight of the car and unit will be sufficient to cause the same to coast downward along its track or runway and into position on the loading platform and simultaneously drawing within the kiln shed the empty unit car and placing such empty unit car into position to be loaded with a unit of brick. The unit of brick on the car and in position on a loading platform may now be transported from such loading car by a loading fork, such as 13, and placed in position in the car 12. While this arrangement necessitates the use of the crane within the kiln as well as crane without the kiln in order to load units of brick into the car, yet the provision of the unit cars connected together and on an incline enables the intermediate operation to be performed expe-- ditiously and economically. The details of the construction of the apparatus of the present invention and by means of which my improved method may be practiced may be varied considerably from that described above without departing from the spirit of the invention and it is to be understood that Tam not to be limited with regard to such apparatus except as pointed out in the appended claims. My improved method is broad enough in its scope to be capable of being practiced by apparatus differing widely in appearance and operation from that described above and I am not, therefore, to be limited with regard to my method except as pointed out hereinafter.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is:

1. An improved car for facilitating the loading thereof by mechanical means, in cluding a floor, a plurality of parallelly arranged risers secured at one side thereof and extending vertically upward with respect thereto, pivotally swinging doors or gates for said car, and means associated with said risers for swinging said doors into position to expose the side of the car.

2. All improved car for facilitating the loading of brick in unit stack formation therein, including a door, means for pivotally mounting the same on an axis extending longitudinally of the car, a framework removab-ly secured. to one side of the car,

apparatus for connecting said framework 1 to the door on the opposite side of the car therefrom, and means for operating said apparatus to move the door to open position.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM w. WALLAo'n. 

